Chapter XXXVIII: Shadows (Cont. II)

“You’re too late,” his voice hissed into their heads. “For a great many things.” With a wave, the three were hurled away from the doorway, crashing into the rock wall across the way with a sound that could only be related to bones snapping. Baen and Adelia wandered through the door together, Baen smirking as Adelia’s eyes flared with darkness and she walked over to a shard of her sword and picked it up, preparing to move in on West, raising the fragment.

West shook off the pain, wincing and watching Adelia move towards him, “What the hell’s wrong with her?”

“Baen’s got hold of her for some reason,” Thyrus said. Thyrus tried to move, “And we can’t move…he’s got us frozen.”

Adelia began to near West, her eyes flaring with darkness. Baen smiled and clapped behind her, “Yes my dear….do it. Slay him. Cut his throat.”

West watched as Adelia neared, “Adelia! Snap out of it! What the hell are you thinking?!” Adelia did not even hesitate. “Damn, that usually works in the books I”ve read.” He stared up as Adelia brought the blade up. “Shit,” West sighed.

There was a twang that echoed through the chamber and Adelia was stumbling away, a bolt stuck in her shoulder. She tripped over Thyrus’ outstretched legs and crashed against the floor, knocking herself out. Baen and the three glanced over to see Shaw and a large horde of grey-skinned creatures with long black hair and a few small tendrils of skin that dangled down from their chin and ears and the base of their skull. These were the Jaigons, the band of warriors who roamed the plane of Zeo and were the friendliest of the creatures on the plane, though that wasn’t saying much. “I’m afraid you can’t have that key piece.”

Baen smiled malisciously. “Well, I at least can’t have the girl. But as for the key, I won’t take no for an answer.” With that, Baen brought his sword out, the Jaigons already lunging in. The speed with which Baen moved was brilliant, blood spraying everywhere as he caught the first few Jaigons across the chest, sidestepping one’s downswing and beheading it as he spun around and took the head off two more, ducking a high swing and burying the blade into the gut of another.

Shaw took the time to race over to the three and wave a smelling salt in their noses. West and Thyrus shuddered more than Gobudo, but all three were able to move again. “C’mon. You have to get out of here!” Shaw pushed them along, past the sprawled out body of Adelia.

“What about the girl!?” West tried to resist, but he was still weak from whatever it was that Baen had done to them.

“I have to kill her.” Shaw ducked the Vasu’s swing. “It’s for the good of the world!” But it was too late, Gobudo had swung again, sending Shaw sailing backwards into a pillar. Shaw tried to rise, but felt a strange red streak flow past his eyes and knock him back against the pillar as Gobudo grabbed the girl and hauled her away.

Baen turned, feeling the red flicker. His brow knotted and he closed his eyes, several thoughts flying from him to the girl and then probing the world around him. “Wha?” Baen’s eyes opened, ducking the swing of a Jaigon which he proceeded to disarm in a more brutal way than the word usually implies. Baen jumped over two more, landing behind them and turning around, slicing them through and then leaping headlong through the remaining few. He turned around, “You will not get away with this! The girl is mine! But if you are too foolish to let me have her, I shall destroy it all! You’ll see now!” With that, Baen brought his sword down and with a great crack, he was gone, a ripple of energy rolling through the temple and laying everyone on the ground.

Gobudo and the others rose, Shaw pulling himself up from the face-down position he was layed out in. He turned in time to see the pistol against his head. The Jaigons stood with arms crossed, unwilling to help the man sprawled out. “Ah, that’s right. Vasu and Jaigons…good friends….ancestral ties.” Shaw sighed.

“Any reason why I shouldn’t pull this trigger?”

Shaw sighed, “Maybe I could explain myself first?”

“We’re listening,” West said, glancing at Gobudo who had Adelia tossed over his shoulder.

“That Seph girl was giving into Baen’s will, she would be taking in the shadow! She can’t do that!”

“And why’s that?” Thyrus stepped over to him, “It would deplete Baen’s power….”

“I can’t tell you why!”

“Oh?” West pressed the gun against his head.

“Go ahead and shoot if you wish, but I can’t. She’s listening, deep down. She’s won’t remember, but if I say, she’ll remember…and he can hear her thoughts. She’s betraying your every move!”

West and Thyrus exchanged a glance. West broke the silence, “You believe him?”

Thyrus weighed the argument, “He really didn’t say anything that would give us reason to spare him, so I think he is. Still, we can’t have him following us. Knock him out.” West brought the gun’s butt down before Shaw could argue. The assassin was out cold as Thyrus and West rose up and looked at Gobudo. “We need to wake her up. Only then will we be able to find out where Baen is going.”

West revealed the smelling salts and stepped over to Adelia, waving it in front of her nose. “Oh….” she groaned, wincing at the pain as West pulled the crossbow bolt out of her shoulder. “Wake up dear.”

“What happened? Where am I?”

“You’re in the temple on Zeo. You’ve been wounded and almost killed me.”

Adelia closed her eyes for a moment, “I remember. It’s Baen, he’s trying to corrupt me. He is in love with me.” West and Thyrus exchanged a glance. “I know it sounds crazy, but he’s infatuated with my maniac courage.”

“Well, who wouldn’t,” West sighed. “Do you know where he went?”

“Azurat, again,” Adelia said. And then her eyes widened, “To the gateway to Cion SKY!”